Kestas, Naperville Central drop Batavia
Batavia had some opportunities early that slipped away, and then Naperville Central pitcher Julie Kestas took over in dominating fashion Monday afternoon.
The No. 14 Bulldogs did score a run in the first for a brief lead, but those missed opportunities in the first two innings helped the sixth-seeded Redhawks claim an 11-1, six-inning victory in the championship game of the Class 4A Oswego softball regional.
Kestas allowed a bloop double to Ryanne Rokos to start the game and, following a walk and a RBI single by Rachael Lovestrand, trailed 1-0. But Kestas, now 19-4 with 14 straight wins, struck out two batters with two on to end the first. The hard-throwing senior then worked out of a two-on, none-out jam in the second and went on to retire the final 15 hitters she faced.
"I'm a big believer in it," Batavia coach Lupe Castellanos said. "If you get a good pitcher you got to get her early. If you wait too long and they get in a groove it's hard to score runs off them. She starts making adjustments, hitting her spots and feeling comfortable on the mound."
After the shaky beginning, Kestas was feeling mighty comfortable and her teammates' bats also helped quite a bit, scoring twice in the first inning after two outs and tacking on two more runs in the third inning, followed by four runs in the fourth and two more in the fifth for a commanding 10-1 lead after five innings.
Kestas credited her pitching coach and her catcher with helping her rebound from the rough start, but she also was grateful for an offense that belted out 13 hits and walked four times in the six-inning triumph. The Redhawks (25-8) advanced to the Downers Grove South sectional where they will take on West Aurora in a Wednesday afternoon semifinal.
"My rhythm came from the offense. They had my backs," said Kestas, who has not lost since April 20. "Them coming back for me was so awesome."
After the first two batters were retired in the bottom of first inning, Naperville Central's Abbey Place doubled home Lisa Tassi and Staci Stark singled home Place to make it a 2-1 game.
Stark, who went 2-for-4 with 3 RBI, also drove home runs in the third and fourth innings, while shortstop Tassi reached base four times, scored three times and also had 3 RBI.
Tassi also made a nice stab of a liner off the bat of Rokos in the second to help blank the Bulldogs, who had opened the inning with singles from Toni Galas and Ashley McNamara.
Tassi, a veteran who was on last year's regional championship unit, said the team kept its composure down 1-0 on Monday because 1-run deficits have not been enough to stop them often the last few seasons.
"I think one of the main things is they really didn't do any damage in that first inning," said Tassi, who has reached safely eight straight times in the postseason. "I mean it is a run, but we've come back from that a lot this season. It isn't too big a deficit … I think we just tried to make sure we knew we would come back and just get the hits. And we got hits the whole game and that helps."